We’re jumping back to the Pacific North-West as Davey Richards hits Portland – and looked to dethrone Daniel Makabe last month.
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Call it happenstance as I flicked through IWTV… We’re coming from the North Portland Eagles Lodge for this one, a Pure rules match as Daniel Makabe looked to inch closer to a two-year reign with the DOA Pure title, having beaten (and retained) against Jaiden just before the pandemic bit.
DOA Pure Wrestling Championship: Davey Richards vs. Daniel Makabe (c)
It’s a first-time meeting according to Cagematch, and that DOA Pure title match looks a little like the old NWA TV title. Understated.
We’ve a rather hesitant start here as the pair locked-up, but it’s Richards who drew first blood with some headscissors on the mat. Makabe frees himself, but gets kicked in the leg as he looked to compose himself. It’s back to the mat as the pair grabbed duelling leglocks, but it’s Richards who gets free and turned in with a toe hold instead.
Richards ties up the legs, but Makabe prevents a STTF as he instead pulled him down into an armbar, but that too doesn’t last as Richards gets free and began to torque on Makabe’s wrist amid some commentary snark. The pendulum swings as Makabe looks for an Octopus, with Richards blocking it as he spun Makabe with a grounded Dragon screw.
A leg sweep got Makabe his next shot, but Richards again stifled him, this time with a hammerlock and wristlock, manipulating the elbow ahead of a stomp to the elbow and upper arm. Staying on that limb, Richards gabbed a hammerlock, bridging over it for extra torque, before Makabe finally got free and stomped on Richards, following with a spinning hammerlock, using his legs for the torque.
Makabe kicks Richards to the outside from there, but waited for Davey to return as he instantly jumped on with an armbar, then used his legs to turn it into a double armbar… which Davey managed to escape. An ankle lock nearly forces Makabe to the ropes, before Richards snapped down on a leg lace to target the knees… only for Makabe to stay down and grab a cross armbar, forcing Richards to spin to the ropes to break the hold.
Richards rolls outside, but that just baited Makabe into following him as he’s kicked around ringside, one for each side of the ring, but the last one’s caught and turned into a leg lock, forcing Richards to grab the ropes.
Richards drops to a knee as he rolled back inside, allowing Makabe to apply almost a Rings of Saturn as we hit the final five minutes of the time limit. A Dragon screw through the ropes gave Richards an opening, which he capitalises on with a Trailer Hitch in the middle of the ring. Some extra oomph’s added as Richards throw in a surfboard as he rolled Makabe to the mat for a near-fall, as the pace began to increase heading into the home stretch.
A Big Unit punch from Makabe has Richards loopy, but a Cattle Mutilation’s blocked as Richards rolled through into an ankle lock. That’s pushed away as Makabe blocked a PK and rolled him up, before the Cattle Mutilation ended with Richards stretching a foot into the rope. Joining Richards on the apron, Makabe tries for what looked like a Tiger suplex, but a switcheroo leads to Richards landing an Exploder onto the edge of the ring.
Rolling Makabe back in nearly gets the pin as we hit the final sixty seconds… a brainbuster lands, but isn’t enough as Makabe peeled a shoulder up in time, before he was forced to withstand an ankle lock, with Richards dropping and scissoring the leg for the final thirty seconds as Makabe had to grit his teeth to ride out the time and retain the title.
This one didn’t follow the ROH precedent of pure rules, or at least, if they did, they didn’t count the rope breaks… but having a technical match under a strict 15-minute limit removes a lot of the downtime that some negatively associate with this kind of wrestling. The draw keeps the door open for a rematch down the line, but also keeps the title on Makabe as I’ll be keeping an eye on DOA’s shows going forth.
Result: Daniel Makabe and Davey Richards went to a 15:00 draw – Makabe retains the DOA Pure Wrestling Championship (***¾)